How to delete a date from the Time Machine on my storage?

[wirtandi]

Hi all

I am on MacOS Monterey. I am trying to delete one particular date from the Time Machine on my SSD Storage. How exactly do I do this? I have read some people say I cannot do it if I am on APFS, only can do it on HFS. How do I know which one mine is?

And if I am indeed on APFS, surely there is still a solution to this?

 

[0128672]

You can delete a Time Machine backup from an APFS volume. I just tried it on my external APFS-formatted SSD.

To find out how your backup drive is formatted, open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities). Tap on the backup drive in the left side and it will show the formatting and storage detail on the right side.

In the drive itself, to delete a specific backup, select that date, right click and choose Delete Immediately.

I'm curious what steps you tried before posting to delete that file?

 

[wirtandi]

You can delete a Time Machine backup from an APFS volume. I just tried it on my external APFS-formatted SSD.

To find out how your backup drive is formatted, open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities). Tap on the backup drive in the left side and it will show the formatting and storage detail on the right side.

In the drive itself, to delete a specific backup, select that date, right click and choose Delete Immediately.

I'm curious what steps you tried before posting to delete that file?

I deleted the specific backup by going to Finder and then to my drive. However, when i go inside time machine to check, it is still there. and if i eject the disk and put it back in, it comes back, the supposedly deleted backup is still there

 

[0128672]

I deleted the specific backup by going to Finder and then to my drive. However, when i go inside time machine to check, it is still there. and if i eject the disk and put it back in, it comes back, the supposedly deleted backup is still there

You may need to use Terminal to delete the local snapshot. I haven't tried this and can't vouch for these instructions (or the site), but you could try what's described in this article concerning the snapshots: https://iboysoft.com/howto/delete-time-machine-backups.html#how-to-delete-time-machine-snapshots

 

[gilby101]

If your TM volume is APFS, delete a single TM snapshot with one of these:

1) In Terminal
sudo tmutil delete -d /Volumes/<TM name> -t <yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmss>
replacing <TM name> with the name of your TM volume, and <yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmss> with a date-time as shown in Finder.

2) In Disk Utility:
a) Select the TM volume,
b) In View menu choose "show APFS Snapshots" and wait for it to complete analysing them,
c) Control-click (right-click) on a snapshot and choose Delete.

 

[gilby101]

You may need to use Terminal to delete the local snapshot. I haven't tried this and can't vouch for these instructions (or the site), but you could try what's described in this article concerning the snapshots: https://iboysoft.com/howto/delete-time-machine-backups.html#how-to-delete-time-machine-snapshots

I don't like instructions (for HFS format backups) which suggest deleting in Finder - should always use tmutil. The article is a strange mix of instructions for HFS and APFS format backups without making that clear. Confusing.

 

[wirtandi]

If your TM volume is APFS, delete a single TM snapshot with one of these:

1) In Terminal
sudo tmutil delete -d /Volumes/<TM name> -t <yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmss>
replacing <TM name> with the name of your TM volume, and <yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmss> with a date-time as shown in Finder.

2) In Disk Utility:
a) Select the TM volume,
b) In View menu choose "show APFS Snapshots" and wait for it to complete analysing them,
c) Control-click (right-click) on a snapshot and choose Delete.

View attachment 2038768

Thank you for this, will try this later and report back

 

[wirtandi]

and wait for it to complete analysing them,

Ugh how long does it normally take? Mine has been on loading for almost 1 hour

 

[gilby101]

Ugh how long does it normally take? Mine has been on loading for almost 1 hour

How many and how big? It should not take an hour except for extreme sizes. That maybe why the Terminal commands can be a better way.

 

[wirtandi]

its a samsung T5 SSD, the size is maybe close to 170GB ? Yeah It just keeps saying loading....sigh

Im not that familiar with the terminal, and kinda afraid I might delete something else instead

 

[mfram]

I tried clicking on the "Show APFS Snapshots" option on my external SSD TM Volume. I'm seeing the same thing: it just spins on "Loading...". But Activity Monitor doesn't show any I/O going on, so I don't think it's working very hard.

 

[wirtandi]

I tried clicking on the "Show APFS Snapshots" option on my external SSD TM Volume. I'm seeing the same thing: it just spins on "Loading...". But Activity Monitor doesn't show any I/O going on, so I don't think it's working very hard. View attachment 2038987

This is it, exactly the same as me. Says loading forever.....

 

[gilby101]

This is it, exactly the same as me. Says loading forever.....

Make sure that Time Machine is not doing a backup or active some way. Suggest disabling automatic TM backup and reboot. (I don't know if that will make a differences but seems like the next thing to try.)

 

[wirtandi]

Yes, I always turn off automatic backups.

Sigh, guess theres no other way but to try terminal which im not familiar with.....or maybe just leave this one be, and i have learned how to exclude backups from TM, so going forward ill just exclude what i dont need

 

[gilby101]

Sorry we are not able to sort this out for you. I don't know where to turn next.